Sir, – A Bill passes through both Houses of of the Oireachtas and is signed into law by the President.There it lies for four years until a scandal embarrasses the Government into implementing it.
A further three years passes before another scandal brings out the fact that the one section of the Bill that the Government did not implement is the one giving the regulator investigative powers! Finally, after seven years, the Bill is fully implemented.
Surely what is needed here is an overarching law to the effect that, once a Bill has been signed into law, it must be implemented within a set period of, say, 90 days. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN CASSERLY,
Bishopstown,
Cork.
Sir, – Jacky Jones alludes to the absence of any evidence base to gauge the effectiveness of the activities of the multiplicity of voluntary organisations now “at large” in the country (“How ‘great’ is the work carried out by charitable groups?”, Second Opinion, Health + Family, July 12th).
I refer in particular to those that claim expertise in the prevention of suicide. None of these organisations, to my knowledge, has ever published a single scientific paper demonstrating a positive impact on suicide attempts or suicide rates resulting from their interventions.
Despite this, the HSE continues to grant millions of euro annually to fund their activities.
The HSE's mental health service simultaneously suffer chronic underfunding and its strategic blueprint Planning for the Future remains largely aspirational.Will someone in the HSE please address this issue as a matter of urgency? – Yours, etc,
Dr PETER KIRWAN,
Ballyclough,
Co Limerick.
Sir, – A charity in receipt of substantial state funding is bound by public pay policy. This makes sense. Why should the State pay charity staff more than they pay their own?
When a charity is in receipt of public funding from private sources, surely it should use this funding to expand services rather than deliver the same service at greater cost?
Surely the intent of those who provided that additional private funding was to enable the charity to deliver more service?
It is disingenuous for charities to use the availability of private funds as an excuse to ignore public pay guidelines. – Yours, etc,
VINCENT MURPHY,
Cork.